This is a question commonly asked by clients, especially those that are looking for new insurance on a car or house they are wanting to finance. Every inquiry, they people are told, can lower their credit and could affect the interest rate on the final loan. While this is a general statement that is often true, it is very broad and non-specific and overlooks certain key details that you need to know.
Keep in mind there are two different types of credit inquires: “hard” inquiries and “soft” inquiries. Maybe you have heard of these by different names, but here is what I mean by “hard” and “soft” credit pulls.
A “hard” inquiry is one where you are looking to obtain a line of credit such as through an auto finance company, a store credit card at a retail store like BestBuy or Sears, a gas card at your Shell gas station, a mortgage (new purchase or refinance), and sometimes when opening a utility in your name (though not always) or trying to rent a property. Every time you apply for credit, the underwriters (people who decide to extend you credit, how much and at what interest rate) can see the inquiries AND some of the FICO score models are about 10% composed by the number of inquiries that you have. Basically, the more credit you apply for the riskier you become because you either are getting declined and the new company wants to know why, or you are getting a lot of credit and the next company has concerns that you can pay all of this new credit at once. Therefore, it is important that you keep all the inquires to a minimum when possible (less than 2 is ideal, zero being the most preferred.) A general rule is that you have to authorize someone to look at your credit for a hard inquiry.
Conversely, a “soft” inquiry is what companies use when they are looking at credit but not offering a line of credit to you directly. This is what most utility companies use to make sure you don’t have specific items on your credit report they are looking for when considering opening an account in your name; they usually are looking for late-pays and other items but not necessarily your credit score. NOBODY sees these inquiries except for the individual when pulling up their credit report (which can be done for free once a year.) So you might get a credit report and see 2 inquiries (one for the credit card you applied for and the other for a car you tried to refinance) but then another 5-10 other inquires you aren’t even familiar with. These could include the credit card companies sending you pre-approval letters to apply for a new credit card or utility companies when you moved to your new apartment. Don’t panic as these don’t affect your score.
With that being said, which one of these inquires is insurance? Insurance is a “soft” inquiry that does not affect your credit score. If you talk to an independent agent when buying a house, you could see multiple soft inquiries on your credit report from companies like ASI, The Hartford, Safeco, Erie, Kemper, Foremost, Mercury, and many other companies. This is because each of these companies wants to know your credit-worthiness or financial responsibility because it has a direct relationship with you paying insurance on time AND with the number of claims that you file (better credit means less claims as a general trend).
So don’t be afraid to get a quote for insurance. Your loan officer or bank manager or whomever is right in saying don’t apply for new lines of credit or anything that pulls as a hard inquiry, since that affects your score. However, getting an insurance quote for home, auto, life, or health insurance doesn’t affect your credit at all.
Don’t forget to pull your credit report once a year from the 3 major credit bureaus. You will probably see your new insurance company on there. However, insurance companies wouldn’t pull credit if it wasn’t important to make sure to review your credit once a year and verify everything is accurate. The only official website is annualcreditreport.com so go there for your free reports.
Agency Owner, The Thomas G Sheehan Agency, 27 Glen Road Sandy Hook, CT 06482
While most if not all auto insurance providers include a credit review as part of their pricing matrix, the type of review is one that does not affect your credit score. In the industry these are referred to as "soft" inquiries as my colleague explained earlier. Keep in mind tot that credit is one of many factors that eventualy result in the premium that you are asked to pay. Your driving record, accident history, age, driving habits, year make and model of your car, even location are all among the numerous elements that a company reviews in order to determine the proper premium for the risk they are being asked to insure.
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This is a question commonly asked by clients, especially those that are looking for new insurance on a car or house they are wanting to finance. Every inquiry, they people are told, can lower their credit and could affect the interest rate on the final loan. While this is a general statement that is often true, it is very broad and non-specific and overlooks certain key details that you need to know.
Keep in mind there are two different types of credit inquires: “hard” inquiries and “soft” inquiries. Maybe you have heard of these by different names, but here is what I mean by “hard” and “soft” credit pulls.
A “hard” inquiry is one where you are looking to obtain a line of credit such as through an auto finance company, a store credit card at a retail store like BestBuy or Sears, a gas card at your Shell gas station, a mortgage (new purchase or refinance), and sometimes when opening a utility in your name (though not always) or trying to rent a property. Every time you apply for credit, the underwriters (people who decide to extend you credit, how much and at what interest rate) can see the inquiries AND some of the FICO score models are about 10% composed by the number of inquiries that you have. Basically, the more credit you apply for the riskier you become because you either are getting declined and the new company wants to know why, or you are getting a lot of credit and the next company has concerns that you can pay all of this new credit at once. Therefore, it is important that you keep all the inquires to a minimum when possible (less than 2 is ideal, zero being the most preferred.) A general rule is that you have to authorize someone to look at your credit for a hard inquiry.
Conversely, a “soft” inquiry is what companies use when they are looking at credit but not offering a line of credit to you directly. This is what most utility companies use to make sure you don’t have specific items on your credit report they are looking for when considering opening an account in your name; they usually are looking for late-pays and other items but not necessarily your credit score. NOBODY sees these inquiries except for the individual when pulling up their credit report (which can be done for free once a year.) So you might get a credit report and see 2 inquiries (one for the credit card you applied for and the other for a car you tried to refinance) but then another 5-10 other inquires you aren’t even familiar with. These could include the credit card companies sending you pre-approval letters to apply for a new credit card or utility companies when you moved to your new apartment. Don’t panic as these don’t affect your score.
With that being said, which one of these inquires is insurance? Insurance is a “soft” inquiry that does not affect your credit score. If you talk to an independent agent when buying a house, you could see multiple soft inquiries on your credit report from companies like ASI, The Hartford, Safeco, Erie, Kemper, Foremost, Mercury, and many other companies. This is because each of these companies wants to know your credit-worthiness or financial responsibility because it has a direct relationship with you paying insurance on time AND with the number of claims that you file (better credit means less claims as a general trend).
So don’t be afraid to get a quote for insurance. Your loan officer or bank manager or whomever is right in saying don’t apply for new lines of credit or anything that pulls as a hard inquiry, since that affects your score. However, getting an insurance quote for home, auto, life, or health insurance doesn’t affect your credit at all.
Don’t forget to pull your credit report once a year from the 3 major credit bureaus. You will probably see your new insurance company on there. However, insurance companies wouldn’t pull credit if it wasn’t important to make sure to review your credit once a year and verify everything is accurate. The only official website is annualcreditreport.com so go there for your free reports.